


The Girl From Furthest Rung

by LastNameWasTaken



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, F/M, I think it count so as urban fantasy?, even if it ain’t really tradional fantasy and like... cosmic horror concepts, like fastascial elements in a modern setting?, or just demon aesthetics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-09 06:01:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15260976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LastNameWasTaken/pseuds/LastNameWasTaken
Summary: John stays the night at a spring rumored to be inhabited by the Seer of Light. He tries to show her card tricks.





	The Girl From Furthest Rung

**Author's Note:**

> This started off kind of inspired by the controversial Studio Trigger anime of the year, then it became more or less inspired by some World of Darkness because I had a goth aesthetic in my head. I tried not to worldbuild too much and I think the setting might be confusing because if it, but I ended up really liking the end product.  
> Other than that, enjoy my sole (and late) contribution to Johnrose Week 2018!

It was just supposed to be a stupid bet! “John, you go up to that big spooky spring up in the hills if I win this month’s Prank war.” Jane had said. “Yes, the one that everyone said was haunted. Just stay the night! It’s all local legend anyway. You have nothing to worry about!”

And yet here he was, dense fog surrounding him as the hum of the forest fills his ears. He heard the stories, Something was supposed to rise up out of the lake at midnight, new moon. He thought he was safe, it was supposed to be waxing, wasn’t it? The fog only showed up on the new moon. That’s what everyone said.

John lay in his tent, clutching his sack under his arm and a pocket knife in his other hand. He had looked out earlier and saw fog forming. He tried to tell himself it was nothing, just a normal, natural process. Then it got thicker, and it was even harder to see what was out there now. 

He could still make out the spring, surrounded by violet flowers and little bushes. It looked pretty when he first arrived but now it seemed to glow with malice. Even more upsetting to him was the large stone slab with the crescent moon engraving that sat at the end of the small spring, flush against the hill. The tablet was difficult to read, but it boasted something called ‘The Seer Of Light’ sleeping at the bottom of the pound. To him, it was a weird choice to have something so dark and gothic boast something like ‘The Seer Of Light’. It seemed even more ominous in the dark, barely visible through the fog. The vague monolith seemed like a door to another world, ready to open at any time to unleash its secrets. 

Geez, now he was thinking like the idiot who dies at the start of every ghost story! No, he knew he couldn’t just lay in his tent and take it all like the idiot who dies. Actually, he could; because investigating weird shit any further is usually what gets them killed. Sleeping until morning is what saves you to tell your story. John turns over, pressing his face into his sleeping bag. He starts thinking about what Jane would say in this situation. Likely she would say the typical ‘Well, it’s just fog. Can’t hurt you.” and keep on sleeping. It was times like these where he _wishes_ he had her skepticism. If he wasn’t so curious and enamored by the strange, maybe he wouldn’t be freaking out over fog.

He heard something crack. He tries to ignore it, but it cracks again. It sounded like a twig being snapped, and realizes he can hear footsteps. Now alarmed out, he sits up. Clutching his pocket knife and throwing the sack over his shoulder, he crawls over to the tent opening. In a less supernatural imposed fear, he worries it may be a wild animal or some weirdo that climbed up here. Slowly, he unzips the tent, looking at the dense air of the clearing. 

There was a deer out there. A doe, from the looks of it. She was sniffing at the grass near the ring of trees, unaware of the human behind him. He holds back a sigh of relief, not wanting to scare her off. He wished he could get a picture of it, but it wasn’t like John came out to the spring for sightseeing. He watches the doe walk around the clearing, and notices she’s avoiding the water. He expected an animal to at least take a sip out of there, but it’s like she’s scared of it. 

Finally, the doe walks up to the spring, slow as can be. She lowers her head to the water, but doesn’t drink. Instead, she jerks her head away and runs off, leaping over a bush and her hooves digging into the earth as she flees. Confused, John tries to stand up, trying to get a glimpse of the spring from his tent. The water was dark from his angle, and deciding to tempt fate, he reaches into his sack and pulls out the flashlight. It flickers to life, and with a promise to run the minute he seems some weird shit, he walks forward.

The water was dark. The only light that seemed to reflect off its still surface it the moon. Or rather, just the New moon and the stars around it. It would be pretty, if he didn’t shine his flashlight into the water and seen a girl sleeping at the bottom. John would have yelped, but instead his throat closes up and he can barely make a gasp. 

He wonders if this was always at the bottom of the spring and no one found it before. But that couldn’t make sense. If there was a murder up here then someone would have found it and reported it. John leans closer, trying to get a better view of her. She looked too preserved to be a corpse though. Was she a statue? There was never any mention of one existing up here. And how did she get here?

Reaching down to feel around for a rock, he experimentally throws it into the water. He wasn’t quite sure what he expected, but it hits her shoulder, bouncing off and landing in the dirt. John frowns, frustrated by the lack of closure. He wouldn’t go into the water of course; but the visage of a sleeping girl in the bottom of the spring, combined with _everything else_ he heard about this place, made this night all the more weird. 

He pulls away from the spring, but not before the girl’s eyes open. They’re white, glowing in the dark water. He covers his mouth, finding himself frozen in fear as the girl _moved._ Her arm reaches up, plunging through the surface and into the air. John backs away, stumbling and falling onto his back. He drops his flashlight, which apparently falls with enough force to turn it off. He struggles to run away and get up at the same time, his brain fried from the impossible scenario before him. John looks behind him to the see the girl, her eyes sleepy and half-lidded as she rises out of the water. The fog around her–no, them, turns into a dark gray, and a shadow glows around her. 

John tries to run, but without his flashlight he trips over a fallen branch. He tries not to worry about the flashlight, only focusing about getting the hell away from whatever was going on here. He crawls, keeping low to the ground and telling himself not to look back. Breathing heavily, he figures if she’s knows he’s there he could just hide behind a tree and run until she loses sight of him. But she wasn’t of this world, was she? Was he even stupid for hiding from a being like her or running? Worse, he worries that he might lure her to civilization, and _then what?_

He gets up, supporting himself on a tree and pressing his back to it. He tries to steady his breathing, wondering if he was sleeping. Maybe he could take his labored breathing as a sign of night terrors, but falling like that should have woke him up. Especially since he wasn’t sleeping in his bed. He pinches himself, just to be sure, and the pain seems to help him focus. Okay, okay, weird thing emerged from spring. She might be aware of him, and she could be looking for him. He _did_ throw that rock at her, and it was pretty rude in retrospect. He still had his pocket knife, and while it wasn’t a reliable weapon against the eldritch and unknown, it was better than nothing. He digs around in the sack for it, pushing past the cards and the other junk he brought along with him to entertain himself into sleep.

He hears—no, it’s dead silent, but he _feels_ it. Deep in his gut and and heavy on his chest. It’s her, she’s locked onto him and he knows it. Fearful, he forgets the knife and runs forward, but doesn’t get far when something grabs him. It yanks John back into the spring clearing, landing on the ground with a thud. He groans in pain, trying to stand when he sees the girl over him. Her skin is gray, and her hair white, matching her eyes. It’s short, neatly cut and held back by a headband. She’s wearing a dark dress with a single purple stash across her waist. She looks about his age, and maybe even around the same height. Her feet are off the ground, but it’s with that detail that notices she’s wearing sneakers. This immediately takes John on a thought process as to why some spirit would be wearing something so modern. He’s quickly snapped out of it though, once the girl begins to advance on him. Alarmed, John reaches into the sack and grabs the first thing he wraps his hand around, closing his eyes brandishing it as his best weapon against this creature. He really hoped it was the pocket knife. 

There’s a distinct silence in the air as nothing happens. The girl doesn’t move forward, and John doesn’t move. He thinks he may have actually tapped into something, like maybe a viable defense against ghosts or wraiths or whatever she is. He opens his eyes, only to realize he grabbed the deck of cards. The girl is just staring at it, with a expression somewhere between dumbfounded and curious. Then, she cracks a smile.

“It seems you found my weakness.” She says in a mocking tone. He expected her voice to some kind of deep, threatening growl. But it’s oddly pleasant. “Tell me, what ancient tome did you unearth to discover this slight?”

“What?” John asks, his voice small. “I don’t… what are you?”

“I’m the Seer Of Light. That’s what my gravestone says, doesn’t it?” She looks to the stone tablet. “Well, it’s more accurate to say my bedstone. I assumed you read it, but maybe not.”

“I did!” He says. “I just... are you a ghost?”

The girl laughs. “Of course not! I’m just a person who sleeps for a month and comes out once in that time. Then I look over humans and report back to the Furthest Rung. I suppose I’m more of an observer or a scout, to your kind.”

“So you’re an _alien!_ ” John accuses. “Or a... ghost alien. I mean, you look like one, but you’re also an alien.”

“Well, you’re very close. But that’s impressive nonetheless.” The Seer says with a shrug. “For clarification, I’m neither a ghost, an alien, or a combination of the two. In some ways I am an alien, but not the kind that abducts. I can astrally project like a ghost, which is how I’m inhabiting this body right now, and talking to you. But I’m not dead.”

“So this isn’t your original body?” He asks.

“I have two.” She says. “They look the same. One is just farther away.”

“In that Furthest Rung place right? What is that anyway?”

“It’s where aliens and other beings meet and converse.”

“But you just said you aren’t an alien!”

“And that is true.” The Seer says, crossing her arms. “The truth is, I’m a human, and even in the Furthest Rung in my other body, I’m human. I just have certain advantages over a normal human like yourself. You could call it magic.”

“Magic, huh?” John asks, taking the deck of cards out of it’s packaging. “You know, Humans have magic too. Some of it is stronger than others. Wanna see?”

He fans the cards out, which seems to catch her attention. She allows her feet to touch the ground, and she’s eye level to him. Without having to hear his instruction, she takes a card out. She stares at it for a moment, then places it back in his hand. The Seer watches him, fist to her chin as if she were focusing hard. John carefully begins to shuffle the cards, taking care to watch the card the Seer has picked. It was a simple trick, but if it meant surprising her in even the smallest ways, he wanted to do it.

“Okay.” John says, shuffling the deck back into it’s original state. “Take out the first card. Is that your card?”

She takes the first cards, carefully turning it over. She looked surprised, turning it towards him to show it was an ace of hearts. “How did you know?” She asks, full of mock surprise. “Truly, even Humans with their limited skills have impressive magic!”

“I am an expert at card tricks.” John says with pride. “I just went with an easy one, since those don’t need prep work I don’t have time to prepare.”

“I know how you did it.” The Seer says quickly, as if she were concerned that he had bought her acting. “But I know Magicians must never reveal their secrets, so I won’t embaress you. Regardless, I find trickery to be an admirable skill, provided it’s in the right context.”

“Hey uh, I was wondering.” John begins, awkwardly. “There’s a lot of local legends about this spring, but what exactly is it for? Why do you sleep here while you’re out in space or whatever?”

“It’s a complicated story. One I can’t explain in one night.” She says, “I will say that I was born human like you, and remain one despite having two bodies. I dabbled in the occult without proper protection, and now I’m indebted. It’s not such a terrible fate, though. I’m immortal, don’t age, and now I have two bodies. ”

“Who are you indebted to?”

“The Baroness. She won’t like it I use her proper title in front of a human. She helped me during my occult incident, which is also why I look like this now.” She gestures to herself. “So, now I’m indebted to her. I work as her scout for Earth. It’s easier for me to just sleep and wake up in another body for scouting purposes, even it’s only under a certain circumstance. For the record, invasion isn’t on the cards right now. She’s dealing with her own set of issues at the moment.”

“Why here though?”

“It’s not visited much, and my time waking has scared people from staying up here. In fact, my sleeping body is actually protected here, since I’m the one who made it. It’s also why no one can see it unless I’m about to wake.”

“So you’re telling me _you’re_ the one who carved that tablet?” John says, pointing to ‘bedstone’. She looked at it as if it were an afterthought.

“Yes, I did.” She said. “I felt it was fitting for the mood I was going for. Ominous but well-kept former cult ground. I was just missing my sacrificial alter. I _knew_ I should have made one.”

“Okay, well, I have two final questions for you.” John says, “How old are you anyway?”

“Not _that_ old.” She says. “I’m only double your age. I don’t look nor feel that old.”

“What about your name?” John asks. This surprises her. “You were born human, so you have to have one before you became ‘The Seer’ right?”

She frowns. “Yes. I haven’t spoken it in a long time.” She murmurs. “Rose Lalonde.”

“That’s a nice name. I’m John.” He says, offering to shake her hand. “I Uh... had to stay up here since my older sister and I have prank wars every month. Loser gets to choose the punishment, as approved by Dad.”

“I’m glad she did, John.” Rose says with a smile, taking his hand. “You were an entertaining human. But my time I see nearly up.”

“Huh? I burned out all your time?” He asks. “But if you’re scouting, what do you have to do?”

“I only study one area.” She says. “There are other scouts in other places. This was mine.”

“Geez, I really screwed up your job, huh?” He says guiltily. “Sorry about that. Maybe I could make it up to you next month?”

“I just need to study humans, John.” She says. She begins floating again, making her way back into the spring. Rose smiles at him, slowly sinking into the water “And you proved to me that Humans can have impressive abilities.”

“Yeah! But next month, right?” John asks, rushing over to the spring as Rose sinks further down. She was quickly submerged, but her eyes were still open, locked on him. She nods, and her eyes close, her body going stiff. He watches as whatever glamour or magic she’s uses cameoflages her into the water, disappearing from this plane. He stays like that for a bit, thinking about Rose Lalonde.

————

“If I had known you were going to come home like this, I would have _never_ sent you up there.” Jane says, rubbing a salve over the welts and rashes on his back. “Seriously, what kind of rough housing went on up there.”

“I got up to pee and forgot my flashlight.” John lies. “Also on my way down I tripped and fell.”

“You’re a terminal clutz, you know that?” Jane scolds. She wipes the sweat off her forehead with a sigh. “It’s my fault anyway. Making you camp on your own like that. Next I’m just making you run down Main Street with a pink shirt. That should be out punishments from now on, wearing bad clothes.”

“It wasn’t so bad.” John argues. “It was actually really pretty up there. I saw a deer too! I actually want to camp out there next month.”

“Next month?” Jane asks, taking her gloves off. “That’s... really soon. Are you sure? You want me or Jade to camp with you?”

“No, I’ll be fine.” He says. He goes to scratch at his back, but Jane swipes at his hand. “Hey, you know those card tricks? You want to help me practice?”

“Of course! Are you trying to impress a girl?” She teases.


End file.
